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Saint Alger
Saint Alger of Muddah was the last of the three Prophets of the Samsonist faith, born in the midst of the 1st Century AS at the end of Samson the Great's rulership in the Heartlands. Alger was born into relative poverty, and while Heartlander traditions ensured that his neighbours kept him fed, they did not provide any guidance for him. His father died of sickness while Alger was a child, leaving the young boy without an educator. Consequently, he found himself in the care of the tribe's Elderman, Saint Böhling. He was a rowdy and disobedient child, but also a charitable and compassionate one. Alger was fascinated by the stories of the Great Bannerlord and deeply idolised him, and very quickly he found himself taking interest in the duties of an Oathsworn. Unlike the Bannermen, who were simply the tribe's fighting-aged males who were levied into service during the cold months, the Oathsworn were permanently dedicated to martial pursuits. When the Warband was disbanded, the Oathsworn guarded the temples, and when religious ceremonies were conducted, the Oathsworn performed the ancient rites alongside the Elderman. When Samson the Great vanished alongside his family in 64 AS, the 7-year-old Alger was devastated, and became deeply troubled. He abandoned his pursuit of becoming an Oathsworn and fell into a fiendish lifestyle. He began fighting with other kids his age, vandalising the homes of various members of the tribe, and when he was a teenager killed a Heartlander Lion unceremoniously. While the tribe had already expressed concern at the previous two actions, the killing of a lion was seen as a transgression against the Paternal Spirits and especially the All-Mother, as the beasts were symbolic of the gods and were the protectors of the Heartlands. For this action, Alger was exiled from Muddah and became a wanderer. Life in Exile (73 - 96 AS) For 7 years, Alger wandered through the plains of the Heartlands, travelling from village to village unable to ever settle into any lifestyle and almost always finding himself the target of the local leadership's wrath. In 80 AS, he found himself on the face of Mt. Schagner. He would spend the next 4 years of his life there, living off of the wilderness and residing in a small cave near the mountain's peak. He occasionally travelled down the mountain to the town of Schurete for supplies he could not make himself. During his isolation, he began meditating and, to the best of his abilities, began writing down his contemplations. Having to survive alone in the Elgen Mountains proved to be an enlightening experience for Alger, as he notes in his contemplations. He began to respect both the beauty and lethality of nature and became humbled and grateful for having the gift of the mind which let him overcome its dangers. In 84 AS, he travelled down the mountain, to a small village of only 20 families. He stayed there for a few months, reciting the old stories of the Gods and Samson the Great to the village children. Shortly after, this he left and continued his travels to the East. Soon he found himself in Rothringen, roaming the streets of Eisentrenk. The city was the birthplace of his mentor, a place formerly of great power that had, like the Heartlands, been subdued by centuries of subjugation under the Mokosh. While there, he became good acquaintances with the town's Elderman, Wigand. The two bonded over theological discussions and Wigand allowed Alger to give a few sermons. This experience led Alger to develop a deep interest in theological matters. Alger became one of Eisentrenk's temple staff in 89 AS and served alongside Wigand until his death in 92 AS. After Wigand's death, a new Elderman was elected, and Alger decided to leave Eisentrenk and resume his travels. He began travelling East, to Pfilstein, wishing to see for himself the land of the two rivers. He arrived in Kordenreich in the winter of 93 AS. He stayed in the village over the winter, reciting old tales and legends to the townsfolk before continuing on his travels in the spring. Alger arrived in Pfilstein in the summer of 94 AS and found himself enamoured with the region's geography. He likened it to his experience in the Elgen Mountains and decided to stay in Pfilstein for a while. He again began working alongside the local religious officials, but unlike in Rothringen, found himself making little progress there. The dialect spoken in Pfilstein was very different from his native Heartlandish, and made communication difficult, and hindered his performance greatly. This frustrated Alger deeply and convinced him to uproot himself and travel across the Heartlands once again. Prophet of the Bannerlord (96-121 AS) In 96 AS, Alger set out to the village of Brechten, in the Heartlands. During his travels, one evening, he heard the voice of his mentor, Frederic Böhling, and his mentor, Leopold speak to him. They told him of the fate of the Great Bannerlord, that the lost King of Muddah had ascended to godhood and that his wife and son were, too, exalted in the heavens alongside him. Then, the voice of the Archangel spoke to him, and Konrad commanded Alger to travel to the edge of the Winterlands, to a town called Salztettin, where he would become the guardian of Samson's mortal heir, who was to become the sovereign King over all Elgenea. Alger described this experience as transformative, reporting feeling "cleaner" and "lighter" after his meeting with the Archangel. He also describes being moved to tears, unlike any he'd shed before. He made the Archangel's command his life-goal, and immediately began travelling to the frigid north of the Heartlands, far beyond the rolling fields of Muddah. It took him 15 months to arrive, but in the Winter of 97 AS, he arrived in Salztettin, and upon seeing the village for the first time, the clouds overhead broke and a beam of light illuminated a house separate from the bulk of the village. He went to this house and he found a lone mother with an infant son whom she had named "Samson." Alger then took up the role that Leopold had for the Bannerlord and that Frederic had for him. He raised the infant Samson as his own and began writing his own chronicle. His encounter with Konrad and the information given to him needed to be shared. He began compiling the various texts regarding the two previous prophets and the Bannerlord, into what he dubbed the "Samsonite Chronicle," which presented the Paternalist narrative as a whole and detailed the chain of events that led to the Bannerlord's ascendance to godhood. The infant Samson Samsonling, as he came to be known, was very much like Alger. He was rowdy and enamoured with martial pursuits, but he also was a born leader, easily making friends and possessed a diplomatic sense undoubtedly inherited from his grandfather. Alger taught him the intricacies of the gods and of his parentage and trained him in the ways of fighting. The young child was gifted with the use of war axes, and too with the spear. And so when he came of age, Samson Samsonling was prepared in all manners to assume his rightful title of Bannerlord. In 118 AS, he, Alger, and his childhood companions set out to prove his lineage and gather support to overthrow the corrupt council leadership that had taken root in Muddah. They began their efforts in the Whitecoast, which had been violently subdued by Muddah's forces after the council took over, and placed into a cruel subjugation as the Mokosh had done to Muddah. There was no shortage of resentment for the council there, and in a few months' time, Samson's party had become a Warband outright. But Alger did not dare risk defeat for Samson, and instead brought the warband south, to Rothringen. And there, he found several colleagues from his early life, who required little persuasion and rapidly flocked to their cause. By 120 AS, Samson's host had grown as large as the Great Bannerlord's himself, and they marched on Muddah to demand the council dissolve and install Samson as the rightful heir of the Great Bannerlord. The council, however, refused to step down, and so Samson was forced to set Muddah to siege. After several skirmishes and months of siege, the Council were forced out of the town by the disgruntled citizens, and Samson was made the sole ruler of Muddah and the Heartlands, as King Samson Samsonling I. Elderman of the Kingdom of the Samsonites (121-126 AS) After the successful expulsion of the Muddite Tribunal and installation of Samson as the King of the Heartlands, the aging Elderman Alger took it upon himself to compile his own chronicle. He spent the last 5 years of his life recording the events of his life, and gathering the writings from the previous two Eldermen, which he put together into his own canonised collection of "Samsonist" writings, which became the basis for the early Samsonist church. He included among these, the Elder Chronicle, which included the traditional creation myth and the most culturally-significant writings from the old Heartlanders; the Chronicles of Leopold and Frederic, which he considered instrumental to understanding the story of the Bannerlord's life; and his own chronicle, which detailed the conclusion the Bannerlord's story, and presented the divinity of Samson outright. His compilation, which collectively became known as the "Samsonite Chronicle," was completed only a few days before his death. In legend, he is said to have died with the chronicle in his arms, beneath a mighty oak.